Davis scores 46, Pelicans beat Clippers 121-117

LOS ANGELES (AP) Anthony Davis missed his first five shots and scored just four points in the first quarter, announcing to his teammates on the bench that he stunk.

They didn't think so - and they were right.

Davis finished with 46 points and 16 rebounds, Julius Randle scored 27 and the New Orleans Pelicans recovered after blowing a 20-point lead in the second half to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers 121-117 on Monday night for just their second road win this season against a Western Conference team.

''I was missing some easy shots, but that doesn't discourage me. I just keep shooting the same shots,'' Davis said. ''Once I was finding the rhythm they told me to go get the ball.''

Davis and Randle combined to score 24 of their team's 28 points in the third quarter, when the Pelicans stretched their lead to 20.

''If it wasn't one person, it was the other,'' teammate Jrue Holiday said. ''I would hate to be the opposing team.''

But the Clippers chipped away, outscoring New Orleans 15-2 over the final 4 1/2 minutes to close to 94-88 heading into the fourth. And they weren't done yet.

Danilo Gallinari hit a 3-pointer off an inbounds pass from Patrick Beverley with 0.3 seconds left on the shot clock. Gallinari got fouled and made the free throw for a 101-100 lead, completing a 13-6 spurt that opened the quarter.

New Orleans quickly snatched the lead back. Darius Miller made a 3, launching a 15-6 run that included 3s by Davis and Holiday and put the Pelicans back in front 115-106.

Davis even played through one sequence without a sneaker after losing it on the court.

''Anthony Davis was spectacular,'' Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. ''I knew he would get it going. We found a way to get him the ball near the basket. It just started to click for him.''

Holiday got poked in the right eye by Gallinari on a foul. Holiday missed both free throws and Lou Williams hit three consecutive layups that drew the Clippers within two.

Davis made all 12 of his foul shots in the game, including four in a row to close it out.

''We got stops in big moments,'' said Holiday, who finished with 19 points. ''They come out and punch us in the mouth. We withstood the punch.''

The Pelicans improved to 6-17 on the road, including 2-10 versus the West.

''We have to stop putting ourselves in these holes,'' Harrell said. ''Yeah, we do a great job coming out and fighting and getting back into it, but we are running out of gas.''

TIP-INS

Pelicans: New Orleans won the season series 2-1, with all three games decided by seven points or less. ... F Nikola Mirotic was limited to 17 minutes five days after he returned from a right ankle injury.

Clippers: Have lost three in a row for the second time this season. ... The always-animated Beverley got a technical on the sideline while waiting to enter the game in the second.

UP NEXT

Pelicans: At the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.

Clippers: Host the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.

---

More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports

The Pelicans lost to the Timberwolves in Minnesota on Saturday, 110-106, snapping a three-game win streak. New Orleans has gone 5-3 (.625) since December 28 after going 5-13 (.278) over its previous 18 games dating back to November 21.

Anthony Davis is averaging 28.9 points, 13.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.6 blocks and 1.7 steals this season. The last player to average at least 25.0+/10.0+/4.0+/2.0+/1.0+ was David Robinson in 1993-94, and before him it was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1977-78.

The Clippers have lost two straight after falling to the Pistons at home on Saturday, 109-104. It was only their third home loss this season when allowing fewer than 120 points — Los Angeles won 10 of its first 11 such games but has gone 2-2 since.

Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell both scored 20-plus points off the bench in the loss to Detroit, the seventh time this season at least two Clippers have scored at least 20 off the bench. The rest of the NBA has done this a total of seven times.

The Pelicans and Clippers have split two games this season, both in New Orleans. The Pelicans have won two straight versus the Clippers in LA after losing the previous eight. Since 2010-11, New Orleans has gone 3-11 (.214) versus the Clips in LA, their fourth-worst mark versus any road opponent in that span.